Jihad troubles

[Siegfriedfr]

Hello,

Trying a restoration of roman empire game with Byz, i got hit twice by a jihad since 960. First time i won (white peace) because the AI brought numerous small stacks that i was able to beat.

Second time didn't go so well. the AI raped my ass with a 50K stack (and there was still more coming). The AI christian are very innefective at helping against a jihad (brining 10K stacks and getting wiped out).

So, can you beat them really, or is this feature brolken with few chance of victory ?

 

[Zohtun]

You have to be ready to pick them off and avoid letting them consolidate. If they're initially big then try to lure them into breaking up by approaching them with a small stack which has a larger one coming as reinforcements as they start seige, which makes them reluctant to stop.

Unfortunately Jihad is harder to fight in general than Crusade since Crusades can be called wherein only a few tiny counts and the Pope go to war and the armies are broken up. Jihad is ALWAYS lead by the biggest and baddest Muslim ruler around, so you're going to have to use terrain and every cheap trick in the book to weather their war and drive them back.

Keep in mind also that white peace is always an option. Drive them to the point where they'll pack their bags and fuck off and you'll have won. That's all you need, surrender just gives you a disproportionately low amount of gold and +10 moral authority.

 

[Siegfriedfr]

Thanks for the answer. EVen white peace is tough, because i have to ferry troops from far away, while the abassid caliphate is pretty compact. By the time my armies arrive and form, they already sieged many towns and have 20+% warscore.

Can you "truce lock down" the abassid caliph, declaring war on him as soon as the truce is over, to prevent having a jihad called on you ?

 

[Robert II]

Thanks for the answer. EVen white peace is tough, because i have to ferry troops from far away, while the abassid caliphate is pretty compact. By the time my armies arrive and form, they already sieged many towns and have 20+% warscore.

Can you "truce lock down" the abassid caliph, declaring war on him as soon as the truce is over, to prevent having a jihad called on you ?

Truces only go one way. If you are at war with him he can't call a new jihad but the second you peace out say hello to 50k outside jerusalem.

 

[Ultima_Ratio]

All the great holy wars are a pretty stupid feature overall but if you are as big as the ERE you can always beat them if you're patient. Let them waste troops on sieges and attrition while you pick off lonely stacks and try to siege back holdings before their garrisons are increased. When fighting on the coast always keep ships raised so you can retreat fast if trouble comes up (using the embark feature will allow you to retreat immediately even if a big stack is just moments away from catching up).

 

[Zohtun]

Thanks for the answer. EVen white peace is tough, because i have to ferry troops from far away, while the abassid caliphate is pretty compact. By the time my armies arrive and form, they already sieged many towns and have 20+% warscore.

Can you "truce lock down" the abassid caliph, declaring war on him as soon as the truce is over, to prevent having a jihad called on you ?

If your finances allow it, I recommend a standing army combination of mercenaries and Retinues to hang around near the Calphate. As long as you're tactical with it, you can pick off the little guys and then retreat when the doomstack arrives, allowing you to speed up the war of attrition. Additionally they LOVE to siege so all you have to do is flee and let them do their thing, losing men to attrition. Once they "win" you wait until they're a few tiles away then recapture the fortress. Repeat until your levies arrive or your army is stronger than theirs (Both is also an option).

As Robert said, truce-lock will not work, but keep in mind that Jihads can only be called every 20 years and only once per Caliph. It may be in your interest to assassinate any dickweeds plotting to kill a young Caliph, especially if he's already failed in a Jihad. By having a few fools die, you'll be safe from Jihad and handling a Caliph-invasion or Holy-war is a LOT easier than a Jihad.

 

[FifthMonarchy]

In my experience you're struggling against a combination of a lot more participants in jihad than crusade and them usually all being close to the target (in common scenarios in the Levant/Anatolia) so marshalling better into combined stacks. The AI is clever enough to keep several large stacks only a province apart too so picking them off is tricky. I've also found allies less than useless as they'll get into a battle and lose giving up warscore and stopping you at least taking advantage of the three year cap at 99% without a major battle. I find you need that often so that the doomstacks are far enough away to allow you to siege back occupied holdings.
I used to try counter-sieging the caliph's holdings but if he's not independent (Slejuk era for example) you're looking at a fair bit of attrition loss and can find yourself caught by jihadi armies marshalling there.
In conclusion, woe, woe is me!

 

[Robert II]

If your finances allow it, I recommend a standing army combination of mercenaries and Retinues to hang around near the Calphate. As long as you're tactical with it, you can pick off the little guys and then retreat when the doomstack arrives, allowing you to speed up the war of attrition. Additionally they LOVE to siege so all you have to do is flee and let them do their thing, losing men to attrition. Once they "win" you wait until they're a few tiles away then recapture the fortress. Repeat until your levies arrive or your army is stronger than theirs (Both is also an option).

As Robert said, truce-lock will not work, but keep in mind that Jihads can only be called every 20 years and only once per Caliph. It may be in your interest to assassinate any dickweeds plotting to kill a young Caliph, especially if he's already failed in a Jihad. By having a few fools die, you'll be safe from Jihad and handling a Caliph-invasion or Holy-war is a LOT easier than a Jihad.

Is it not 30 years for crusades,jihads and GHW?

 

[Robert II]

Which religion are you? If you are catholic vassalise some holy orders. If you are Orthodox try and get the duchy of Jerusalem converted for the Brotherhood who will accept vassal with no hassle.

 

[indika_tates]

I had the same problem but I won three early jihads caused by the conquer of Jerusalem. The best you can do is waiting for attrition to do it's job. As soon as a doomstack enter into Anatolia it gets evaporated in three months. Kite the AI, and use your fleet smart to assault castles to keep the score on your side. Then, when all of the doomstacks perished the war is yours.

As I said, the secret is the correct usage of your fleet. ERE has an insane amount of fleets enough to tranport 50k troops early game. Unite your armies in Constantinople and land early and destroy enemy armies separately if you can. This can be the difference of winning the war or losing it. Mobility is your advantage.

If your threat is not too high as soon as you win the Jihad, declare holy war against the Caliph for the same duchy you assaulted before. The garrison will be very small and you can win the war in one-two months. That's -13% sunni authority.

 

[Zohtun]

Is it not 30 years for crusades,jihads and GHW?

Whoops. Yeah.

Well besides that error the rest of my post stands!

 

[Robert II]

Whoops. Yeah.

Well besides that error the rest of my post stands!

I was just making sure it was 30 years. The current caliph just decided he wants Anatolia and I'd like to be sure I have 30 years of relative safety.

 

[Sergeant Flutter]

Won't help you with fighting the Jihad off- but you could somehow make the Arabs destroy the Caliphate title by making them have no successor.

There are a few things you could capture/do to keep the title destroyed, if you capture Damascus and or Baghdad, the A.I. will usually be stopped in their tracks. Also, it'd be good to make sure they lose Sayyid and or Mirza.

Just really screw around with them, make their vassals rebel, erode Sunni MA, pick off the weaker Muslim states in between the Death Jihads.

Also, increase your power base, annex the Balkan states if there are any left, and Venice is ripe for the taking. Venice is de jure part of Byzantium and is the very wealthy.

If you haven't already, capture Sicily.

Once your de jure borders are captured, there are several places to attack. Russia, Crimea, Italy, Pannonia, and Bavaria are all areas that can be captured.

 

[Audoucet]

Yeah I saw the Abassids lose the caliphate... Ummayad re-made it : Europe, game over. XD

 

[Siegfriedfr]

This is what i managed to do. Each jihad is beaten in armenia mountains. I let the AI attack a 10K stack then reinforce with nearby armies.

Retinues drain all my money on reinforcement, so i do not use them in jihad which last a long time.

I'm not a very good player. The coalition mechanic makes everything really boring, since after each holy war the whole world is in a coaltion against you.

 

[name_here]

Jihads tend to be more powerful than Crusades because the Caliph heads a very powerful realm and so any Jihad has a very large army cooperating. If any Christians join you, they might attach their armies to yours if you move a big stack nearby.

Actually it looks like you ought to be pretty much set at the moment; you've got plenty of territory to get troops from. Just keep chipping away at the Abbasids.